Cycles 7-16 is a natural progression from Matt’s debut solo album, Six Cycles, also released via Village Green in 2016. Like the debut, it was recorded in Berlin with the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg and reaches the same heights of cinematic majesty, demonstrating Matt’s abilities to summon a wide range of emotions and moods through his writing and arrangement.

Touring and travelling over the last two years, inspiration came from spending time in different cities and places. The wintry, tense ‘Cycle 7’ was inspired by an early morning in Berlin, while ‘Cycle 15’ was written whilst on a conducting trip to Norway.

With this album, however, Matt endeavoured to push himself further in order to expand his writing horizons. As well as being almost double the length, Cycles 7-16 possesses a much broader sonic palette than its predecessor, such as the full symphony orchestra on ‘Cycle 12’ and the seven pianos used on ‘Cycle 14’. On others, Matt returns to his classical roots, using a string chamber orchestra on ‘Cycle 11’ and ‘Cycle 16’.